In our last post we discussed long-term goals and how relevant and important they are for you to make sure you are striving to achieve them.

Setting short-term goals on an hourly or daily basis can also be vital in the journey. As entrepreneurs or leaders, we are interrupted on a daily basis, and sometimes, at the end of the day, we feel we’ve not accomplished anything.

You may want to think about setting up a system of exceptionally simple goals. I often see people trying to accomplish ten to fifteen items on a daily basis. While that is possible, we are interrupted so many times throughout the day that it is not feasible to accomplish those big goals.

On a daily or hourly basis, think about setting a goal for one thing, maybe two. Once you’ve accomplished that, add another.

Let’s say you want to review and clear out your email box. That would probably be a huge undertaking for many of us! I suggest you decide to go through at least ten emails from specific organizations, or perhaps to respond to at least three of them in the next hour, or over the course of the day.

Once you reach that short-term goal, set up the next one — working through the hour or the day. This doesn’t mean that you don’t maintain a running list of actionable items that need to happen today or this week or this month. You might have a list of what needs to be done this week, it’s just a matter of prioritizing for the day and the week to make sure you are reaching those goals.

When you set a goal for one hour to respond to three emails, what happens is that even if you get interrupted and yet you accomplish those three replies, you will feel really good, and perhaps decide to do three more, or move to another task.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. What short-term goals can you handle on an hourly or daily basis?

2. How can you break those goals down into simple and reachable steps?

3. What other tools or tricks have you used to improve your ability to reach your daily goals?

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